"When I'm dressed up like Elvis, I feel like Superman," says Cary, a 51-year-old Elvis Presley impersonator, in this promo clip for the new season of TLC's Hoarding: Buried Alive. It's pretty obvious that Cary is a collector — he has loads of Elvis memorabilia — but it's also clear Cary has much deeper problems. For instance, on the tour of his home, there is a roasted turkey thigh on the floor.

Advertisement

Unlike some other episodes of Hoarding or Hoarders, Cary's story deals with celebrity obsession, and it seems as though there's a connection between losing himself in Elvis and losing himself in possessions. It's heart-breakingly obvious that Cary simultaneously worships Elvis and hates himself when he sobs, "I'd rather be a poor man with garbage than a poor man with nothing." Sadness.